


Bittersweet (truth)

by S_Horne



Series: August in Bloom [25]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Except he's in his 20s, Future Fic, Getting Together, Kid Fic, M/M, Oblivious Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 16:56:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20393047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/S_Horne/pseuds/S_Horne
Summary: “I’m not an idiot, you know. I do have eyes.”“I’m not sure what you’re getting at, kid.” Tony paused to have a quick mid-air battle with a robot and Peter winced in sympathy when he received an armoured body to the face. Even behind the suit, that would have packed a punch. “Steve and – I mean, Cap – and I are just friends.”The snort that Peter let out at that was almost violent and he shook his head at his dad, choosing to ignore his veiled protests for the time being, and focused instead on the rest of the team. “Whatever.”“Oi! Don’t you ‘whatever’ me, young man. Who do you think made your suit?”





	Bittersweet (truth)

**Author's Note:**

> This was an anon prompt on tumblr, but I didn't follow it all that well to be honest. It's literally not even close. 
> 
> "Hi!!! Can I ask for being Stony's 21 y/o son who is an avenger and also super smart like Tony?? Like, he is Tony's biological son but was adopted by Steve and he's like "gr8 I have two dads now"

Peter had seen it coming a mile off. Though Tony liked to think he was slick and subtle, Peter knew his dad. He knew his moods, knew his routines, knew the things he loved and the things he despised. He even knew what Tony looked like when he found someone attractive – though God knows Peter wished he didn’t.

Peter knew how Tony acted when they were alone, when it was just the two of them and they could goof around and tease each other, and he knew how Tony acted when they were in public. The two personas were also very different to how Tony was when he was around someone that he liked, and Peter knew all of the versions up close and personally. Regardless of what the media thought was the truth, Peter knew intimately how diverse they all were.

With that in mind, even when it seemed as though the whole of SHIELD had done their best to hide what was happening right under his nose, Peter had proof that he wasn’t an idiot. He knew full well that his dad and Captain America – yes, _the _Captain America – had something going between them. It was obvious. It was there in every touch between them, in every glance that lingered just a little too long.

Peter had an apartment just a few blocks away from the Avengers Tower provided by SHIELD, but he still made a point of staying at his dad’s for one night a week. It was just their thing and Peter didn’t want to give it up. Even as an adult, he looked forward to spending that time with his dad and feeling like a little kid again. It had just been the two of them for so many years that there was no way either of them were prepared to go their separate ways. So, one night a week Peter and Tony did something together.

Most weeks, they just had a simple meal and a catch up. A simple meal and a catch up that was often attended by Steve.

Now, it wasn’t even unusual for one of the Avengers to eat at Tony’s place, or to spend time with Peter. But what _was _strange was for Tony to let someone else encroach on his special time with his son time and time again, week after week. The same time, the same person.

So no. Tony wasn’t subtle in the slightest and Peter was so over it.

/

“On your left, dad,” Peter said into the comms, eyes focused intently on the battle playing out in front of him. Recovering from a leg injury in their last fight, Peter had volunteered to be their eyes and ears from the Tower, hanging back and hacking into CCTV cameras with SHIELD agents.

_“Thanks, Pete,”_ Tony replied, twisting out of the way in time and firing a repulsor behind him to the enemy. _“How are we looking?”_

“Not a hair out of place.” Peter tapped a few keys on his keyboard and focused in on where Captain America was fighting a horde of robots, his shield hacking them to pieces. “Handsome enough for Steve, don’t worry, dad.”

There was a string of spluttered expletives before Tony’s face suddenly appeared on the main screen in front on Peter.

_“What is that supposed to mean?”_

Peter rolled his eyes as he turned to flick through his other computers, pausing for a moment to check the tension on Clint’s bow. It was looking like it might be a good idea for Peter to pull it in after the battle and check its performance.

“I’m not an idiot, you know. I do have eyes.”

_“I’m not sure what you’re getting at, kid.” _Tony paused to have a quick mid-air battle with a robot and Peter winced in sympathy when he received an armoured body to the face. Even behind the suit, that would have packed a punch. _“Steve and – I mean, Cap – and I are just friends.”_

The snort that Peter let out at that was almost violent and he shook his head at his dad, choosing to ignore his veiled protests for the time being, and focused instead on the rest of the team. “Whatever.”

_“Oi! Don’t you ‘whatever’ me, young man. Who do you think made your suit?”_

Peter pointed at Tony in warning, knowing that the cameras went both ways and that Tony had an eye on him always.

“Incoming behind you.” He waited patiently and, once the threat had been eliminated, continued. “You can admit it now, alright? You have to know I don’t care.”

_“Kid,” _Tony said, voice a little breathless as he dipped and dived, weaving in and out, _“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”_

“Wait, what?”

_“Cap and I, we’re friends. Teammates, Pete. That’s all we are.”_

Fingers froze over his keyboard as Peter stared at his dad, computers and battle forgotten for a moment. “You cannot be serious. I’ve been mentally calling him Pops since I was twelve.”

_“What?” _Tony’s voice was strangled and suddenly there was a mass explosion as Tony shot several repulsor beams at once. “_Pete, kid, I don’t know where that’s come from, but–”_

“Dad, tell me you’re joking. Please. Please tell me you aren’t serious.”

_“I really don’t know what to tell you.” _Tony paused to fight off another robot, protests interspersed with muttered curses. _“This is the first I’ve ever heard of this.”_

“I – are you… I don’t, don’t.” Peter was stumped. His fingers started tapping out commands and coordinates almost on autopilot as he sat in shock. There was another small explosion and the sounds of hand-to-hand combat filled his ears. It was a weird sort of symphony; one that would never sell out concert halls, but was oddly comforting to Peter all the same. “Okay. Maybe this isn’t the best time to have this conversation.”

_“Yeah, no kidding,” _Natasha cut in over the comms, voice strained as she very clearly engaged in a fist fight. _“Whilst we would all be ecstatic for those two to finally pull their heads out of their asses, we have bigger problems right now.”_

“Roger that, Ms. Widow,” Peter said quickly, zooming a camera in on the street to see where the robots around her were coming from. “You’ve got a visitor to your left and about six, no, seven more coming up behind you.”

_“No, wait,” _Tony cut in again_. “I want to talk about this now.”_

“Dad, I don’t know what to tell you,” Peter said with a shrug. He narrowed his eyes at the screen in front of him again, focusing in on some clear markings adorning the chest of one of the robots. It looked familiar, almost as though they were a similar army to one the Avengers had seen before. “You haven’t been a single parent for a very long time. Steve has a room at yours, spends most nights there. He’s always there for our father-son night. He used to take me to school and get up with me when I had nightmares. You have to have seen this happening.”

There was a long silence from Tony. The only sounds coming over the comms were noises from the attacking robots as Tony fought them off with none of his usual witty comments and joking banter.

Peter was watching intently, zooming in as close as he could from every possible angle. He was now almost sure that they’d met them in a previous battle. As it was his job to come up with a way to take down the enemy quickly, Peter quickly made his sole focus on that task instead.

Peter was also experienced in the mystery that was his father, and he’d learnt from experience that the best thing to do was to let Tony work things through on his own for a bit. Peter decided to do just that and left Tony to stew.

“Okay. I think I’ve got it. Widow, you ready to shoot off if I send you the destination?”

_“Send it over, Spiderbaby. I’ve got Hawkeye on my cover.”_

“On it.” Peter bit his lip. “Dad?”

There was another long pause, almost shy, before: _“you don’t mind?”_

Peter smiled widely, fingers flying over the keys as his mind finally clicked onto the last piece of the puzzle needed to take down the enemy. “No, dad, I don’t mind. Two dads actually sounds pretty great to me.”

_“Sounds good to me as well.”_

Peter startled and let out a loud laugh when Tony cursed loudly at the sound of a new voice cutting in over the comms. “Yeah, Steve? You like that?”

_“Yeah, Queens, I really do. Tony?”_

There was a sigh and Peter waited with baited breath as he fired a couple of codes down to Clint and Natasha and watched them perform a sharp turn to find the new destination. Hopefully they would locate the source quickly and they could all move on to more pressing matters; namely getting Steve and Tony to stop being so goddamn oblivious.

_“Yeah,_” Tony’s voice finally came and Peter didn’t think he’d ever smiled so widely. _“It sounds pretty damn good to me as well.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo I'm going on holiday in eight hours, and I wrote this instead of packing.


End file.
